Anthony Lakes

Those of you who know me, know I used to play in a Marimba Band in La Grande, Kupenga Marimba.   I moved away from La Grande about 9 years ago, but the band invited me to perform with them when they are short handed, and I LOVE getting back together with them to play.    It is a wonderful group of people, and the music is delightful.     They have invited me to play with them at the Pendleton Farmers Market on October 7, so I have been practicing at home a lot, since the last time I played with them was before Covid.     Practicing on my soprano instrument only goes so far, so I traveled to La Grande to practice with them, on the Band instruments, last Monday.     I decided to make a Waddles trip out of it.

I dropped Waddles off at the Anthony Lakes Campground (one of my favorite Forest Service campgrounds) before practice and easily found a place.   This is high elevation, so getting cold this time of year, and I figured there would be lots of open sites.  I was right.

Then I drove back to La Grande to meet a friend for dinner before band practice.    I alway take back roads, and so drove through North Powder and Union to get back to town.   Along that road is this historical plaque.   It honors Maria Dorian, an amazing woman who was a contemporary of Sacagawea.     Her story is documented in a historical fiction book series by Jane Kirkpatrick.    

After practice I drove back up to the campground and crawled into Waddles for the night.    It is delightfully DARK and QUIET there.

I got up early the next morning to hike up to the top of the ski area (I was on a mission to find some geocaches).   This area has lakes, mountains, wildflowers, wildlife and is one of my favorite places to hike.

At the top, there are some interpretive signs about the Whitebark Pine trees which are a high alpine species.    There were lots of Clark's Nutcrackers, and Mountain Chickadees about. 

Hofer Lake

Fall is coming...

At one geocache I had to run a gauntlet of deer to get to the cache.   We all remained calm and moved slowly and it all worked out fine.

The old bridge

The new bridge

And then it was time to head back home.    Of course I took the back roads.

The bushes are turning, and were beautiful 

Out in the middle of nowhere!

I am hoping to get out with Waddles at least one more time.   I will be going back over to practice with the band in early October, so we will see; two days after I was at Anthony Lakes, they got 4" of snow.    Winter is coming.

 

Swifts and Marimbas

Waddles and I made a quick trip to La Grande last Thursday.   I used to play in a Marimba Band over there, Kupenga Marimba, and they graciously allow me to make guest appearances with them on occasion.   They were playing for Vaux's Swift Night at Max Square.  

Annually the Vaux's Swifts come and roost in the big chimney right in downtown La Grande.  It is fun to watch, but evidently the Swifts didn't get the memo, because they were not there on Friday evening for the big event.

But the crowd was wonderful, faces were painted and raffle tickets were sold.  Food was eaten and beer consumed.

You have heard me talk about Ladd Marsh before and I never miss an opportunity to visit the Marsh and look for birds when I am in La Grande.   Saturday mornings there is an organized bird outing that the public is invited to join, so I got up at 6am and was at the meeting spot for a 7am departure.   These outings are frequently into places on the Marsh that are not normally accessible by the public, so it is a treat.    

We walked out to the City Ponds, and even though it is not migration season, the birding was good.   We saw Bittern, Green Night Herons, Marsh wrens, a variety of ducks, Horned Grebes, and two Virginia Rails made appearances (for those of you who are not birders, these are very shy wading birds that hide in the reeds, you hear them more than see them normally).    We also saw Vaux's Swifts!  

Thanks to my friend Rachel, Waddles and I had a cozy spot to camp for a couple nights.  If it looks familiar, it is the same place I spent the first 2 nights of my mega trip last spring.

I'm sad to think that winter is coming too quickly and Waddles will have to be put into hibernation in the garage.   I'm hoping to get another trip or two in before that happens, but nothing solid is planned yet.